Buyers of power infrastructure lack technical, financial competence – Nnaji

Nigeria’s former minister of power, Barth Nnaji, says the country is currently suffering from the failure to adhere strictly to the original power purchase agreements.

Nnaji said on Friday that buyers of the power infrastructure lacked both financial and technical competence, and this is responsible for the current challenges faced in the sector.

Nnaji, who is seeking to become governor of Enugu State in 2023 on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), speaking when he returned his form to the party’s headquarters, in Abuja, said he would leverage his technical expertise to transform the power situation in Enugu.

“I left before the finalisation of the privatisation because what we wanted to see was that anybody who was going to take up any of the assets will come with two particularly important capacities; financial capacity and technical capacity. So they were not coming up with those then and that is part of the challenge the country is having today”

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He, however, assured the people of Enugu to use his experience as a technocrat to develop the state.

Nnaji, who also served as minister of science and technology, boasted to have left indelible marks as a minister.

“I was minister of power. When I came to the ministry, there was power reform agenda, there was an Act made as far back as 2005 and this Act was basically put on the shelf. We dusted it off and started the reform programme, which is the practical implementation of it. And the outcome is privatisation of the power sector.

Nnaji, who spearheaded the development of the Geometric Power Plant in Aba, Abia State, stated that “I am coming with a lot of experience in both the government and private sector.

“We have built the only power project that is a complete utility of itself; better generation and distribution to ensure 100 percent reliability 24/7 power supply in Aba region. So I have that”

Continuing, Nnaji described himself as the most qualified to govern the state, adding that “I have experience from the United States as a distinguished professor of engineering from one of the best schools in the world. I run the United States National Science Foundation Center of Excellence in design. So my experience is that wide,” he said.